


That’s What Friends Are For

by tchele



Category: NCIS
Genre: Gen, Post “Perennial”, Post “She”, Spoilers, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-14 17:23:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18480859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tchele/pseuds/tchele
Summary: A continuation of Perennial as I wanted more. This was NOT the fic I intended to write but I hope it’s enjoyable.





	That’s What Friends Are For

Tim McGee didn’t know what to make of what his boss said. He burned a rule. He’d never done that before, and Tim was still baffled over what the man said. “I got one with a swan, I got one with a kid, I got one with a plant, and I wanted to shake them all.” It was easy enough to figure out the swan reference was Nick Torres and the plant reference was Ellie Bishop, but the kid comment threw him off. Before he could really dive into that comment Gibbs revealed he had burned the rule. Tim wanted to dig deeper and ask when and why he burned the rule since it was obvious Gibbs wasn’t going to open up about it, but before he could figure out the words they were interrupted. The door slammed up stairs and heavy footsteps sounded through the house and down the stairs.

Jack Sloane was in Gibbs’ basement. Tim shouldn’t have been surprised, the whole team had noticed how close Gibbs and the psychologist were, all the closed door moments and Ellie had confided in Tim about the times that Jacks presence calmed Gibbs down and a touch from her changed his whole demeanor but he hadn’t seen it for himself. He still hadn’t, he was seeing it in reverse. Jack was unhinged, emotional, hair wild, tears streaming down her face and she hadn’t even noticed Tim was there. She made a beeline into Gibbs arms. He wrapped his arms around her and held her. 

“What happened?” Gibbs prodded gently, more gently than Tim had ever heard him speak to anyone other than Kayla Vance or Emily Fornell. Even Ziva and Ellie didn’t get this kind of gentleness.

“She knew who I was, and she knew all along. She knew the moment I walked into the conference room. She hates me. She feels like I abandoned her. She wants nothing to do with me.” Jack said softly.

“How do you know that?” Gibbs asked.

“She told me.” Jack answered softly. “Faith just thinks I’m selfish and I walked away to follow my dreams. She doesn’t know that I didn’t have any dreams until she was born, that she gave me the strength to pick myself up and move on. She told me I shouldn’t have come here, that I had to know I might walk into a room and see her.”

Tim tried to leave the basement without alerting Jack he was there, but he was unsuccessful. He had almost made it to the steps when he bumped against a sawhorse and the wood balanced on it went clattering to the floor.

Jack’s head whipped around at the sound and she started to take a step away from Gibbs, but he held her tight. “Remember that we talked about, Tim. Make sure to keep your head on straight.” Gibbs said before Tim nodded and left, more confused than he had been five minutes earlier. Usually talks with his boss around whatever boat the man was building were cathartic, but not this time. This was the first time he left the safety and solitude of the basement with more questions than answers.

Tim tried calling Ellie but she wasn’t picking up. He then tried Nick Torres, he didn’t pick up either. For a brief moment he considered calling Abby but realized with the time difference it was the middle of the night there so instead he broke one of his own personal rules. He pinged Ellie’s phone, figuring he could use Rule Eighteen to explain it away. The address that came up was familiar, but Tim didn’t dwell on why. However as me made his way down Leland he realized where he was going. The office Ellie had stumbled upon during the Morgan Burke case, Ziva’s private office. Tim wondered for a moment what Ellie was doing there as he continued his drive.

He made his way to the outbuilding and saw the door and windows open to let air and sun inside the small building. “What are you doing here Ellie?” McGee asked.

“Geez McGee, What are you doing here?” Ellie replied with her own question as she removed her earbuds.

“I needed to talk to you.” McGee answered.

“So what? You pinged my phone when I didn’t answer?” Ellie asked, annoyed at the invasion of her privacy.

“It couldn’t wait. Gibbs burned a rule.” McGee replied as his explanation.

“What do you mean? Gibbs lives by his rules. Why would he burn one? Which one did he burn?” Ellie asked.

“Rule Ten.” McGee answered simply.

Ellie gasped as she looked around the room. “How do you know?” She asked after a moment.

“I went to talk to him about the case. He was talkative, which was odd. He said ‘I got one with a swan, one with a kid, one with a plant and I wanted to shake them, and tell them “Rule Ten” but I couldn’t cause I burned “Rule Ten”’ do you know why he would have burned a rule? Or when?” McGee asked.

“He was still enforcing Rule Ten when I found this place. Pulled me off the case and basically told me if I broke Rule Ten again he’d fire me.” Ellie answered quietly. “I’m supposed to be cleaning this place out for Gibbs but I’m not. It’s paid for until the end of next year. So the landlord is letting me use it, the way she did.”

“The plant came from here, didn’t it?” McGee asked.

Ellie nodded.

“Why are you trying so hard to save it? And what’s with your connection to this place? You didn’t even know Ziva.” McGee asked.

“She’s alive.” Ellie answered softly.

“What? It sounded like you just said ‘she’s alive’ what does that mean?” McGee asked, very confused for the second time in such a short period of time.

“Ziva, she’s alive.” Ellie answered.

“Ok, I need more words. Ellie, we watched the farmhouse burn with Tony. Director El-baz confirmed she was dead when she brought Tali to D.C.” McGee replied.

“Well someone lied. The night we solved the Burke case I went to the hospital to see Hill. I was going to read him the letter Morgan’s mom dictated to Ziva. When I got to the hospital the letter was on the bedside table, not in the book in my hand. Hill told me he’d already heard it, that a woman read it and said she’d haunt his dreams. I was confused and when I left the hospital it was like something was drawing me here. I found this.” Ellie said as she unlocked a drawer on the small rolltop desk at the end of the room and pulled out a piece of paper. “The handwriting matches the books.”

McGee took the paper and read the words, his hands tracing the familiar writing. “How is this possible? It’s been years. How could she let us think she was dead?” He asked.

“I don’t know, but this secret is too much. I wondered if Gibbs knew, but I don’t think he does.” Ellie answered. “I asked him if he had an opinion about the plant, and he got really annoyed with me. I gave him the opportunity to tell me if he knew she was alive and he just got even more frustrated with me. I think he wanted to say something about Rule Ten, but didn’t. Now I know why.”

“So you broke Rule Ten and so did Ziva, and because you both did we saved Morgan Burke.” McGee said.

“I guess that’s why he burned it.” Ellie mused. “So you said Gibbs said ‘one with a swan’ that’s gotta be Nick, and ‘one with a plant’ is me, what do you think he meant by ‘one with a kid’?”

“At first I was really confused about it. I thought of Palmer but he wasn’t distracted on this case so that doesn’t really make sense. Then Sloane showed up at Gibbs’ totally unhinged.” McGee began.

“Really? She’s usually so in control. What do you think I was about?” Ellie asked.

“She didn’t realize I was there and I tried to get out without her seeing me but I did hear her say something about someone knowing who she was and telling her she hated her, and I thought I heard the name Faith.” McGee answered.

“Faith? Like Faith Tolliver? The witness in the case?” Ellie asked.

“Could be. I know both of them were acting strange on this case.” McGee answered. “What are we going to do about Ziva?” 

“I don’t know. I’ve been trying to figure it out for months, and I’ve been trying to get ahold of Tony but he won’t return my calls.” Ellie replied.

“Do you think he knows?” McGee asked.

“I don’t know what to think anymore. This whole thing has me so on edge and I feel bad because I ended up hurting Nick and he doesn’t deserve it.” Ellie answered.

“So that is why you were so tough on him. You should tell him.” McGee suggested.

“I can’t tell him this. I shouldn’t have told you. She asked me to keep her secret, and I blew it.” Ellie replied.

“We need to tell Gibbs.” McGee said finally before leading her out the door and towards his car.

They made their way to Gibbs house and McGee took note of the fact that the blue sedan was still there in the driveway meaning Jack was still there.

McGee knocked on the door and then opened it, uncertain of what he would find. He needn’t have worried. Jack was on the couch with her knees pulled up to her chest and a cup of a steaming beverage between her hands. 

“Where’s Gibbs?” Ellie asked.

“Basement.” Jack answered without looking at them.

Ellie looked over at McGee and quirked her head as if to say ‘you go see Gibbs I’ll be there in a minute.’ McGee nodded and made his way to the basement while Ellie sat down across from Jack.

“Are you ok?” Ellie asked.

Jack shrugged. “I just had my past slam into my present the last few days and I need to figure out where I go from here. What are you doing here?” She said, as she took in Ellie’s demeanor.

“Did you ever have a secret that you don’t know how to tell, or aren’t sure you should tell but you know if you don’t tell and the person finds out later from someone else it will be bad?” Ellie asked.

“Oh yeah, but don’t take my example. I royally screwed up, if you want my opinion tell them now. Before it can come back to bite you.” Jack advised.

“Why don’t you come with me. Once I tell this story I have a feeling Gibbs may need a friend.” Ellie suggested.

“You aren’t telling him you broke one of his rules and are running off with Torres or something are you?” Jack asked with a ghost of a smile on her face.

“No, but I am breaking a rule. Just come with me.” Ellie answered. “And why do you think I’d run off with Nick?”

“He’s in love with you, why do you think he’s done all the things he has to get your attention?” Jack asked.

“I can’t really unpack everything that goes with that right now, so you and I will revisit that after we deal with the fallout of what I’m about to do.” Ellie answered.

They entered the basement and Gibbs turned to face Ellie. “What do you need to tell me Bishop?” Gibbs asked.

“You might want to sit down for this.” Ellie muttered.

Gibbs and Jack shared a look and McGee gestured for Gibbs to sit before Ellie continued.

“I’m about to break Rule Four, but I can’t keep this to myself anymore and I think she’d want you to know.” Ellie began.

“Spit it out Bishop.” Gibbs said gruffly when Ellie paused.

“Ziva’s alive.” Ellie said simply. “She’s alive and I’ve known since the Burke case. I can’t keep it to myself any more, it’s too much.”

“That isn’t possible.” Gibbs replied.

Ellie went through the story the same way she had with McGee, ending with handing Gibbs Ziva’s note. “I don’t know what to do now. If there is anything to do now.” Ellie finished.

“What you do now Bishop, is just what you’ve been doing. You keep her secret and you it go.” Gibbs said.

“What are you going to do, boss? You going to keep her secret and let it go?” McGee asked.

Gibbs didn’t answer. McGees phone rang and it jolted him back to reality. “I have to go. Delilah has plans and the sitter needs to leave. I’ll drop you off Ellie.” McGee said.

Once they had left Jack turned her attention to Gibbs. “You ok Cowboy?” Jack asked.

“If she doesn’t want found she won’t be.” Gibbs replied matter of factly. 

“That doesn’t mean you don’t have thoughts and feelings about the situation.” Jack mused. “And no, I’m not shrinking you. This is me, as your friend, making sure you are ok, like you did for me earlier. That’s what friends do.”

“I thought I had made peace with what happened. Then Bishop found that office and it opened everything back up and now this. I don’t know what I think.” Gibbs confessed as he picked up a tool and resumed working on the boat.

“Well when you are ready to talk to someone I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.” Jack said as she headed back upstairs.

“Jack? You know I’m here for you too. When you are ready to talk about Faith, or whatever it is that is bothering you.” Gibbs replied.

“I know, that’s what friends are for, right?” Jack asked.

 

~Fin

**Author's Note:**

> This is very much outside my norm, but this fic kind of took on a life of its own 🤷🏻♀️ it will not be continued as I have too many WiPs as it is.


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